REMEMBERING JANE JACOBS

The world has just lost a genuine heroine in the struggle for better, more humane urban spaces. Author Jane Jacobs has died at 89. She is perhaps best known for her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. Next week architecture professor Howard Davis will tell us more about her life and work. Pictured: Boston's lively Faneuil Hall Marketplace, by Benjamin Thompson, a successful and adaptive reuse of a historic structure, photo by John Simakauskas/ Artifice Images.

HOPES AND DREAMS

Now in its 12th year, the student-run HOPES (Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability) conference at the University of Oregon weaves together a matrix of scholars, professionals, practitioners, and students to promote a deeper understanding of sustainable design issues. The theme this year was "permanence/ impermanence" — the dynamic inherent in things built to last and things built for the moment. Illustrating the latter is a water catchment design project generated by UO students in which bamboo tubes capture rainwater and release it with a musical thump. Next week architect and writer Michael Cockram will describe the conference and its hopes.